NEWS

By KAREN STINNEFORD
UNC-CH News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Two programs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill could receive up to $14 million in federal funding through a budget bill approved Thursday (Sept. 3) by the Senate Appropriations Committee under the guidance of Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-N.C.

UNC-CH’s School of Public Health could receive between $5 million and $13 million to build laboratories where researchers would study emerging infectious diseases and identify potential biological and chemical terrorism agents.

Also, LEARN North Carolina, a statewide, Internet-based resource that connects teachers and their students to master lesson plans, educational World Wide Web sites and continuing education opportunities, was allotted $1.2 million in the bill to expand as a national demonstration program.

The proposals originated in the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Subcommittee and were approved Thursday (Sept. 3) by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration. Faircloth serves on both the subcommittee and Senate Appropriations Committee. After a joint Senate-House conference and President Clinton’s final approval, the funds could be made available in fiscal 1999.

"Senator Faircloth has been a stalwart supporter of Carolina’s ongoing mission to reach all the people of the state through relevant and timely research, outstanding public service and exemplary teaching," said Chancellor Michael Hooker. "We are grateful for Lauch’s leadership and advocacy on our behalf and are hopeful that the entire North Carolina delegation will embrace these proposals since they will serve the public’s interest so strongly."

The bill recommends that the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "grant full and fair consideration" to the School of Public Health’s proposal to build a regional laboratory as part of the nation’s efforts to fight bioterrorism. The bill proposes setting aside as much as $13 million for regional laboratories, and UNC-CH is the only institution recommended in the budget bill as a possible site.

The money would help construct the school’s proposed $24 million, 90,000-square-foot laboratory building. The university’s Board of Trustees recently approved selection of an architect to design the facility, which would be funded by private and university sources.

The School of Public Health consistently ranks among the nation’s top public-health schools -- a reputation that is grounded in high-quality research, teaching and service, said Dr. William L. Roper, dean. But the school needs safe and modern labs, particularly for its epidemiology, nutrition and environmental sciences and engineering departments. Outdated labs need to be converted to classrooms and offices to accommodate the growing number of students and faculty, he said.

"Building a safe environment where scientists can study new infectious diseases and biological agents is a excellent example of how federal tax dollars should serve the average citizen," said Roper, a pediatrician. "We need only look at the growing number of antibiotic-resistant diseases and the recent Sarin nerve gas attack in Tokyo’s subway to realize that our world is threatened by disease and chemicals we don’t fully understand. We must learn more about them quickly in order to best protect the public from potential harm."

The school has occupied Rosenau Hall since 1962, when it had 200 students and 70 faculty members. In 1970, planning began for a new 275,000-square-foot building, but because of inflation, the McGavran-Greenberg Building opened in 1990 with only 125,000 square feet of space. The school now has 1,300 students, including the second-largest number of doctoral students on campus, and 184 faculty members. U.S. News & World Report magazine has ranked it as the best publicly supported school of its kind in the country.

LEARN North Carolina -- which stands for the Learners’ and Educators’ Assistance and Resource Network of North Carolina -- helps teachers teach better and students learn more through technology. The network offers high-quality lesson plans, teacher forums, online libraries and educational Internet links for teachers and students.

The appropriations bill encourages the U.S. Department of Education to conduct an online demonstration project that would help teachers nationwide apply technology in their classrooms. The bill states, "The program can provide a model of how technology can enhance education for the nation. LEARN North Carolina … is currently developing such a program and would be especially suited to carry out a demonstration in this area."

So far, teachers and curriculum or technology specialists in each of the state's 117 public school districts have been trained to use LEARN -- which means LEARN now has the potential to reach 2,000 schools, 80,000 teachers and nearly 1.2 million students throughout North Carolina.

"The value of LEARN is that it can be used in Washington, New Mexico or Maine -- there are no limits," said Dr. Robert A. Berlam, director. "All it takes is some basic knowledge of technology and quality resources on the Web site. LEARN can be demonstrated in any school district cheaply and effectively and have an immediate affect on the quality of education in our schools."

LEARN is accessible with a standard phone line and Internet access. Users clicking to www.learnnc.org find resources such as:

an electronic database of exemplary lesson plans indexed by grade, subject and the N.C. Standard Course of Study, set by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and considered to be the teacher’s "bible." So far, teachers have submitted more than 3,000 lesson plans. Each plan is reviewed by an expert panel to control quality.

a multimedia resource library containing images, text, sound and video to allow classes to take virtual fieldtrips. Soon, science teachers will be able to study the cosmos operating UNC-CH's Morehead Observatory telescope via remote control. Students also can tour Ackland Art Museum or tap the treasures of the N.C. Collection in Chapel Hill without leaving their classrooms.

a Web link library providing access to hundreds of useful and educational Web sites. About 320 million Web sites exist; LEARN links teachers to helpful and "kid friendly" sites so they don’t have to conduct their own tedious, time-consuming searches. LEARN has about 200 links, many of which are specific to North Carolina.

professional development programs for teachers, who can seek more training or continuing education programs on-line at their convenience without being dependent upon teacher workdays or classroom substitutes.

Offered free, LEARN was designed at the UNC-CH School of Education with input from the state's teachers and $1.4 million in academic enhancement funds designated by Hooker from flexible state appropriations. The program received $200,000 from Duke Energy Co. and $100,000 from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to encourage more teachers to submit lesson plans.

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News Services contacts: Mike McFarland, Karen Stinneford